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Posts Tagged ‘Syed Fahad Hashmi’

A chapter closed this week in the case of Syed Fahad Hashmi. As supporters packed the courtroom and two overflow rooms at 500 Pearl Street, Judge Loretta Preska pronounced a sentence of 15 years, the maximum allowed for under the plea bargain accepted by Fahad after nearly 3 years in severe solitary confinement.  Referring to [...]

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The following statement by Wallace Shawn and Deborah Eisenberg was delivered outside the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City on May 3, 2010 where supporters of Fahad Hashmi have been gathering since last October to bear witness to the inhumane conditions of Fahad’s detention and to call for an end to the US government’s [...]

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You may disagree with what extent the reader needs to have an empathetic understanding for Fahad’s decision. However, I think that it is uncritical to portray the plea as a simple admission of guilt. That interpretation fails to ask important questions about the government’s bizarre conduct in this case i.e. the government’s willingness to drop three other supposedly severe charges in the blink of an eye, the fact that Fahad waited until the eve of the trial before accepting the plea bargain, and the numerous critiques of the breadth of the material support statute (whose constitutionality was challenged before the Supreme Court just last month).

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On Tuesday April 27,  Fahad Hashmi took a government plea bargain. He pleaded guilty to 1 count of conspiracy for allowing an acquaintance to store waterproof socks, ponchos and raincoats in his apartment. The government dropped the other 3 charges. Fahad made this decision after having served 3 long  years in solitary confinement and one [...]

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As the defense attorneys argued in their brief, to warrant an anonymous jury the government must show a “strong reason to believe the jury needs protection.” That’s because the rights at stake are huge.

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